H&M expands to 5 new countries - and one Michigan mall

The parent company of fashion retailer H&M plans to add 430 stores to its 64 global markets while adding five new ones in 2017 - and one location in Michigan will be among the new locations.

The Tanger Outlet Mall near Howell will add an H&M store to its lineup by midyear, said manager Amy Stanton.

The store - known for its full line of on-trend merchandise - will be added to the northwestern building of the multi-building center, located along I-96 at the M-59 exit.

Shoppers will find it between Gymboree and Pepperidge Farm, with Wilson Leather relocating in the center to make it possible.

While Hennes and Mauritz operates more than 4,300 stores and planned an aggressive 10-15 percent growth in new stores over several years, the Swedish retailer announced this week that it would curtail those plans.

Full-year profits fell 11 percent even with 6 percent sales growth, it said. H&M now plans to seek 10-15 percent sales growth in its stores and online instead of continuing the global expansion.

"In the light of the development phase that the industry and the H&M group is going through with an ever growing online market and digitalisation, it is natural to rephrase the previous growth target," the company said.

Besides H&M, the $400 billion company also operates COS, & Other Stories, Monki, Weekday and Cheap Monday as well as H&M Home.

H&M has 14 stores in Michigan. Most are in malls from Detroit to Grand Rapids, in addition to Saginaw's Fashion Square. It also has stores in two outlet centers: Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills and the Tanger Outlet in Byron Center, south of Grand Rapids.